Richmond has a $9,500 bird painting for Kelly Clarkson

Driving the news: Clarkson's very public feud with the Brooklyn shop over the now-$15 million bird put us on the hunt for the priciest bird art for sale in Richmond.

What we found: "Fight Club," a $9,500 oil painting by Richmond artist Guy Crittenden. No, that's not a metaphor.

• The piece depicts two wild turkeys duking it out over mating rights — which is even better than a singing mechanical bird — and is available at Crossroads Art Center, gallery owner Jenni Kirby tells Axios.

Not into violent mating rituals? There are more peaceful ways to blow a few grand. For $5,000, you can bring home colored-pencil drawings of sandhill cranes or great blue herons by local Nancy Jacey.

• Or for the budget-conscious bird lover (and we don't mean Clarkson — we'd never suggest she can't afford bird art) there's Kathy Pantele's cardinal in flight, "The Visitor," for $2,200.

What they're saying: Birds have long inspired artists, Kirby tells Axios, largely because of what they represent.

• "We're not just buying an image of a bird. We're buying the feeling that bird gives us — freedom, tranquility, joy, nostalgia, or a connection to nature," Kirby says.
• Or in Clarkson's case, perhaps the one bird she can't have.

The bottom line: Richmond is stuffed with bird art — but we can't make any promises about local staffers' "elevator eyes."

• After all, Richmond is the next New York.

What we're watching: Rest in Pieces, Richmond's own oddity shop, just announced that it's launching pet bird taxidermy next year. So Richmonders can soon turn their dearly departed feathered friends into one-of-a-kind bird art.